YOKOHAMA — The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement will give Washington a strong presence in Asia and an opportunity to increase trade, U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday in Yokohama.
"Agreements like this will benefit our economies and our people but they will also send a strong signal," Obama said to business execs at the APEC CEO Summit before the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum kicked off their two-day meeting here later in the day. "When it comes to this growing, sprawling region of the world, the United States is here to stay."
Originally a small free-trade pact signed by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore in 2005, the TPP began gaining attention after Obama said last year in Tokyo that the United States planned to join the pact. Negotiators are now vying to expand the Pacific-wide free-trade pact to nine nations.